The Soup. Jorma Rotko
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу The Soup - Jorma Rotko страница 6
Название: The Soup
Автор: Jorma Rotko
Издательство: Eesti digiraamatute keskus OU
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
isbn: 9789949978540
isbn:
“I’m the elder of the congregation,” Hamm continued. “Divine service is held every Sunday at my house. We hold our service in my barn during the warmer months, from spring until the hay is cut in early fall,” he said. “Fürstenwerder is without a chapel and will be until the land is drained. If you feel uncomfortable here,” Hamm said, “There is a Frisian parish about six miles away in Orlofferfelde. They, too, worship in the barn”.
With our religious discussions complete, it was time to move on to talk about the land. Hamm promised us time to get our farm in order before we would need to contribute to parish community service of building windmills and draining the land.
“As you know, draining is hard work,” he said. “We work quickly and hard. I can guarantee, after a day working with us, you won’t have enough energy to do anything on your own land”.
Hamm’s wife Anna asked us to join their family for lunch. Though they had a large table, they too were a large family and ate their meals in three shifts. The children eating last.
When we got home, I started an inspection of the house while Dietrich went to check on the fields. When he returned, I could tell he was not happy with what he had seen.
“We cannot grow anything in those fields for many years,” he said. “The only thing they will be useful for is pasture land. We need to start thinking about getting some cows”.
Frisians are good milk cows, and we can buy calves locally. The best beef cattle are Limousins, a breed not opposed to poor pasture conditions. Where, I wondered, could we find Limousins? “Dietrich, we need a woman in this house,” I said. “You need to start looking for a wife. I refuse to churn butter”.
In my mind, it would be a lot easier to find a wife than a cow. Almost every family in the area had more than ten children, many of them grownup, unmarried daughters.
Adjusting to the Flemish orientation of the local parish was proving to be a headache. It was true we could join the Frisian parish in Orlofferfelde, but how could we possibly live in Fürstenwerder after that. We would be, I’m sure, treated like marked men by the Flemings, rebuffed and discriminated against.
Johann Dirksen had changed sides. Did we dare discuss such a delicate question with him? We decided to try.
Dirksen seemed to be a forthright man and told us the transition had not been all that difficult. He said we would need to confess our faith at the service, and swear to conform to the commandments of the parish and comply with the discipline of the church.
In our case, we felt, the part about conforming and complying was going to be a lot more difficult than confessing our faith. After that, he said, we would be re-baptized by the elder, as a Fleming Mennonite. That was about it.
Required at the next service was a formally, unanimous acceptance by the parish before our conversion would be complete, but no one spoke. It appeared our acceptance had already taken place, so it looked like we were in.
The Dirksen’s, our new Frisian friends, had six sons and a 17-year old daughter named Johanna. She was helping her mother, Katharina, in the kitchen; carried water from the well and using an ax to chop firewood.
We talked with Dirksen about the idea of building a rowing boat during winter. Was he familiar with a place in Danzig where we could purchase raw materials and equipment for the project?
“Danzig is a very expensive city,” he said laughing. “We don’t buy but sell things there. We buy what we need in Elbing. It’s smaller and much cheaper than Danzig”, Dirksen said.
“Elbing is easy to find. The only good road around here is the highway to Elbing. It takes you first through the village of Loytzenhof, then on to where you cross the Nogat River at the Nogatbrügge Bridge into the town of Elbing,” he said. “You’ll find the merchants and warehouses are on the left bank of the river in the Speicherinseln district, known locally as ‘Warehouse Island.’ They sell everything you’ll need”.
Dirksen promised to loan us his horse and wagon for the trip. “You will need to plan on spending two days,” he said. “Otherwise, the horse gets too tired”.
We spent a rather rainy week working to remove bushes and dig ditches. Then, unexpectedly, the weather changed. The rain stopped and the wind diminished leaving a blue sky and beautiful autumn days. Perfect for making the trip to Elbing.
Dirksen harnessed his horse and loaded in the wagon some oats and hay for the animal. It took us all day to reach Elbing, but we luckily found most shops still open. At a store called Neptunsspeicher, we bought new hemp rope for the Geest, tools, copper nails, and a big barrel tar. We had intended to buy oak planking but found none available, so bought pine instead.
The Weisse Taube inn, where we were to spend the night, stood on the opposite side of the river, near the bridge in town. The innkeeper promised us good shelter for the horse and wagon and soft beds for us. We had no complaints about breakfast the next morning, either. It consisted of a filling big chunk of salt pork and fried eggs.
“I’m off to the marketplace,” Dietrich said after leaving the table. “I heard yesterday you can buy amber here reasonably and that Elbing’s silversmiths are some of the best”.
I was confused and must have given him a questioning look.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.